This invention relates generally to rope chain jewelry and more particularly to rope chain jewelry of the diamond cut faceted type.
A rope chain may be made up of annular links formed of solid wire, usually a precious metal such as gold. The wire is formed into a C-shape, or each link may be a continuous loop by soldering the ends of the wire together after bending into a generally C-shape. In a known manner, a multiplicity of such individual links are intertwined to form, in outward appearance, a double helix rope chain. In order to reduce the weight of precious metal, and thereby reduce the cost of a finished item without any compromise in aesthetic appearance, rope chains have been made using hollow links. After formation, the individual hollow links are intertwined, just as the solid links are intertwined, to form what is known as a hollow rope chain.
Different appearances have been achieved for the solid link rope chains by using links of different cross sections and also by providing facets on the external surfaces of the rope chain. The facets are produced in a process known in the trade as "diamond cutting" by shearing away external portions of link surfaces, and many attractive patterns are the result. By faceting a solid link rope chain on four sides, a square shaped rope chain has been produced. Also, faceting has been done on six sides and eight sides to provide hexagonal and octagonal appearances. The faceting may be applied along the entire length of the rope chain or only in selected portions. Additionally, the flattened, sheared surfaces that comprise a facet, while generally running in a straight line lengthwise of the rope chain, have been made to run in a spiral around the rope, the spiral corresponding with the double helix construction of the chain itself.
Naturally, whenever a new faceted appearance is generated in a rope chain having solid links, there is an impetus to reproduce the same appearance in hollow link rope chains so that a lower cost version of the solid link faceted chain may be made available to the buying public without sacrifice in aesthetic appearance.
Because the metal in the hollow links is so thin, e.g., 0.0025 inches, it has not been possible to facet hollow link rope chains by the shearing technique that removes metal from the surface of the links. Such a machining approach to faceting can easily produce holes in the surface of the very thin metal, and destroy the appearance and worth of the rope chain.
Therefore, alternative techniques to provide the effect of faceting without shearing away material have been developed, and have proven to be successful in simulating the appearance of sheared facets. These techniques for faceting generally involve deformation of the hollow links by application of lateral forces to the surface of the hollow link and bending the link wall. Precise control over this bending and bending in small repeated increments produce flat surfaces that give the appearance of a sheared facet.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,125,225 and 5,129,220 issued respectively Jun. 30, 1992 and Jul. 14, 1992 to Kalman Strobel are illustrative of such a technique for producing hollow rope chains with an appearance of solid diamond cut rope chains. However, the procedures in the Strobel patents are complex and time consuming. Essentially, the method is a batch process wherein a length of rope chain is wrapped around a large drum and frozen in position. Then a tool moving transversely to the axis of the drum impacts against the chain and in a plurality of longitudinal passes, eight passes are mentioned, a flattening of the links is achieved. Then the drum upon which the rope chain is wrapped may be rotated, for example, 90.degree. and the entire multi-stepped procedure is repeated until the desired number of flat portions are produced on the external surface of the rope chain.
Thus, a costly and time-consuming process is required to provide a hollow faceted rope chain. The freezing procedure can add an extra twenty minutes during manufacture. When the rope chain is unwound from the drum, the spacing between the flattened facets will depend upon the diameter of the drum and the number of times the drum is incrementally rotated during the entire process.
What is needed is a simpler method for faceting hollow rope chains that more realistically simulates the faceting results produced when shearing solid link chains.